The Poughkeepsie Tapes: The Killer's Video Diaries

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Filmmakers who shoot their works in the horror genre are increasingly turning to the use of pseudo-documentary films. Debut director John Eric Dowdle went the same way. This is how the film "Tapes from Poughkeepsie" appeared.

Psychopath report

The Poughkeepsie Films mostly consists of amateur footage.

These films (almost 240 hours of recordings) scrupulously record the "exploits" of a merciless killer. This is a kind of diary, a report on the work done, a collection of disgusting and brutal ways to kill their own kind. It was these films from Poughkeepsie (Poughkeepsie is a provincial town in which the villain was operating) that became the subject of study of experts and geniuses of forensic science. They must find the culprit. However, there are no special clues in the horrifying records, the maniac turned out to be far from a fool. Rather, he wanted to show off the deeds of his hands, and being caught was not part of the psychopath's plans. In addition to showing excerpts from the video diary, the film also contains the testimony of witnesses already recorded by the FBI sheep. All this is filmed in such a manner that if a person did not know that he was watching a filmPoughkeepsie Tapes, he might have mistaken it for a documentary about the latest serial killer.

Amateur

One can be a fan of the Paranormal Activity franchise or the two-part Z/L/O horror anthology. And you can laugh at these films along with the creators of Marlon Vines' House of the Paranormal or Scary Movie 5.

One can rejoice at how appropriately amateur filmmakers of "shaking" cameras use all the pseudo-documentary effects, making the audience forget that in front of them is a work of art. And you can get annoyed by the same constantly moving camera and flickering on the screen. “Tapes from Poughkeepsie” is a rather ambiguous spectacle, not so much because of the so-called “mockumentary”, but rather because of the frank sadism that shows through in all the deeds of a maniac, which he carefully recorded on cassettes. Of course, there are lovers to savor the bloody details. It is they who will be interested in the Poughkeepsie Films tape, it will not be difficult to find a torrent.

Disgusting in places

There are no other great artistic merits, except for pseudo-documentary tricks and flashy naturalism, in the picture. The artists are total strangers. Installation is very torn in places. The picture is unattractive. And you can tickle your nerves with the help of other films.

Hitchcock's works, for example, despite their considerable age, do not become obsolete. They have the charisma of the creator, and random performersthe great Alfred did not shoot in his thrillers. Documentary films about real maniacs like the infamous Tom Bundy or Andrei Chikatilo are much more interesting and scary than the Poughkeepsie Tapes. After this creation of Dowdle, I want to go wash my hands as soon as possible. The main thing is that the spectators do not have a persistent aversion to men (like the episodic heroine of this picture, the wife of Simon's FBI sheep, who accidentally saw footage from the maniac's video adventures).